Return to Pegasus
by SGFanatic
Summary: This not for profit crossover story takes place after Atlantis arrived on Earth. With the ancient city safely ensconced on our home planet, the I.O.A. has conveniently forgotten about Pegasus and our allies that sacrificed so much for Earth's benefit. But when Atlantis Base receives a desperate cry for help, the Atlantis teams spring into help backed up by some unexpected friends.
1. Chapter 1

_Whack!_

"Hell of a shot, Colonel," Major Evan Lorne said as the golf ball arced through the air. It landed with a tiny splash in the Pacific, between two of Atlantis's piers. He and Colonel John Sheppard, along with the remaining six team leaders that hadn't been deactivated, waited on Mr. Robert Woolsey. He'd called them in two days before their leave was to end. All other teams had been disbanded while world governments and I.O.A. decided how to deal with the sudden arrival of the ancient city of Atlantis.

Atlantis defeated the wraith super-hive almost two months before, landing in the Golden Strait about three miles west of San Francisco's Golden Gate bridge. The I.O.A. and several of the world governments butted heads about how to handle the city's unexpected arrival. A few governments wanted it sent back to Pegasus, thinking it would draw unwanted attention to Earth. Most wanted the invaluable weapons platform to remain, especially the American government. But where it should stay quickly became a hot-button issue that ground all stargate use to a halt.

The only thing the body of the I.O.A. could agree on was it couldn't stay in San Francisco's Golden Strait interfering with the shipping lanes. Since it landed in American waters, the U.S. military unilaterally decided to move it to Coronado Naval Base in San Diego. The move enraged many governments, especially the Chinese and Russians, but there was little they could do about it. With no sign of returning the stargate to work in the foreseeable future, both the Cheyenne Mountain Complex and Atlantis had been reduced to skeleton crews of just over a couple dozen maintenance and security personnel in each.

"I told you, call me John when we're not on duty," Col. Sheppard said with a smile as he offered the club to Major Anne Teldy. "And it's all in the wrist."

"Technically, we _are_ on duty," said Major Teldy as she took the club. She bent to place her golf ball on a tee and eyed the distant beach of the Silver Strand Training Complex as if she could drive her ball the necessary four miles. "We were activated the minute Mr. Woolsey called us in for this meeting."

"I'm supposed to be watching the Stanford game with the woman from apartment 2-B right now," Sheppard said. "So, as far as I'm concerned, unless the world's under attack I'm still off duty." The colonel hesitated. "Wait… we're not under attack, are we?

"I don't think so, sir… I mean, John," said Lorne. The two men noticed the dark look from Major Teldy who was paused in her back swing and eyeing them for silence. They shrugged apologetically and she turned her attention back to the ball.

_Whack!_

The golf ball arced higher than John's had, and would have fallen shorter except it caught a cross wind. Ripping suddenly right, it fell diagonally and bounced near a team of technicians working on one of the piers. The techs hadn't seen it, but must have heard its sudden impact on the pier. All six heads whipped around searching for the mysterious sound before hearing it splash into the water.

"Maybe we should wait until we're on end of a pier to drive anymore," Teldy said hiding the club behind her back as they looked out over the unsuspecting techs.

"That's the sixth crew I've seen working since I arrived," John said as the officers gathered at the edge of the tower's precipice and gazed down at the again feverishly working team. "I thought Atlantis is supposed to have a skeleton crew."

"Quite correct, Colonel Sheppard," said a familiar voice behind them. They turned to see Mr. Woolsey standing in the open doorway. "But, for perhaps the first time ever, both the government and the I.O.A. see eye to eye." Woolsey walked to the edge and looked out over the piers of Atlantis and California beyond. "Both Atlantis and Stargate Command will be running at full capacity in two days. As the leader of Atlantis, it's my responsibility to ensure that we'll be fully functional in that time. Which is why I've called you all here. As I understand, only Lt. Colonel Sheppard and Major Teldy still have active teams. The rest of you all had your teams disbanded, yes?"

He was answered by nodding heads.

"Then, while the rest of you check the personnel files to choose your teams, Colonel Sheppard, Major Teldy and I will begin the selection process for the final four team leaders. While I'd normally chose the team leaders myself, I'll need your assistance to choose the best leaders in the time allowed. The I.O.A. insists on an initial 12 active teams on the Atlantis Expedition. More will come in time."

"Wait a minute," John said in confusion. "The selection process for a team leader alone can take weeks. Activating a full team will take almost a month because the time it takes for the leader to pick their crew. We can't do it in two days."

"And what about Stargate Command?" Teldy asked. "Are they being shut down completely? You can't run two stargates on one planet. One will take precedence over the other, and a Pegasus gate will always override an Earth gate." Mr. Woolsey motioned for them to follow him back into Atlantis's main tower.

"The U.S. government has been paying exorbitant amounts of money to the Russians for use of their gate, and the Russians regularly threaten to pull the use of their gate to leverage more out of us," Woolsey continued. "Worse than that the cost to power the gate is almost as inordinate. But, as Atlantis has three almost fully powered ZPMs, we returned the gate to the Russians. The Atlantis gate will be dominant so, even if the Russians try to use their gate, any returning wormholes will automatically connect to our gate. Their gate will be essentially useless. And when you consider the fact that a wraith kamikaze attack destroyed the Antarctic chair, Atlantis now has the only resource capable of controlling the drones that defend this planet."

"So, are we being combined with Stargate Command?" Lorne asked.

"That was the original idea," Woolsey said. "But the I.O.A. put too many restrictions on the Air Force. So the SGC is moving off world. They'll be operating out of the Alpha Site and connecting through us for logistical support and communications. The military has been moving resources to the Alpha Site almost constantly for the last two weeks."

"What about our allies back in the Pegasus Galaxy?" Major Lorne asked.

"Even with the flight from Pegasus and ensuing battle with the Wraith Super-hive, our ZPMs have more than enough power to connect with the Pegasus galaxy. Ronon, Teyla, and select personnel have been on New Athos for weeks negotiating to build our Pegasus Alpha Site there. Now that everything's fallen into place, we were finally given the go-ahead to build the teams."

"Then why the press for time?" Col. Sheppard asked, his eyes narrowed.

"Some Lucian Alliance and goa'uld hold outs have begun causing intolerable problems here, and there are still wraith wreaking havoc in Pegasus," Woolsey said. "If any more of the wraith happen to find or already know the coordinates of Earth… well, we have responsibilities in both galaxies that can no longer wait."

Woolsey stopped in front of the large conference room and turned to the group. "Those who have to choose their teams will work in here. Each of you will be pulling from the same pool of candidates, so it's first come first serve. Colonel Sheppard and Major Teldy, please come with me."

Mr. Woolsey walked several doors further to a smaller conference room. Inside, there were three tablets waiting on a small table.

"We have almost one hundred candidates to choose from, but as they will need time to choose their own team members, we'll have only four hours to come to a consensus. Please begin and remember, alacrity is essential."

Sheppard and Teldy cast doubtful glances at each other before sitting at the table with Woolsey. The first thing Colonel Sheppard did was go through the names looking for anything that would jump out at him. And one name did.

"Here's one," he said. "Colonel Adhir Khatri. He was one of a handful of Indian Ghorkas who were gathering intelligence while I was in Afghanistan."

"I didn't think India was a part of that conflict," Teldy said.

"Officially, they're weren't. I think they were there as a favor for someone."

"I'll add his name to the short list," Woolsey said after glancing at the man's file on his own tablet. The trio had only began looking over the files again when a voice sounded on the Atlantis intercom.

"Mr. Woolsey to the gate-room immediately."

Sensing strain in the woman's voice, Sheppard and Teldy stood as well but Woolsey waved them back down.

"I'm sure it's nothing too important. Please continue the search for candidates. I'll be back as soon as possible." He hurried out the door leaving the two Air Force officers alone in the sparse room.

"And I was hoping for something to break the monotony," Teldy said casting a sidelong smirk at Sheppard.

"After five years of stress from the wraith and replicators, I'm actually enjoying the down-time," the colonel replied with his own grin. "But I really was looking forward to the Stanford game. You don't suppose we could get it on the monitor, do you?" he asked, his eye narrowing at the Atlantis wall monitor.

"I'm sure someone could do it, but not me. McKay for sure. What's he up to?"

"Introducing Dr. Keller to his sister in Vancouver. He's been there for the last week, calling about every six hours to complain about one thing or another," he said, then his grin deepened. "It probably doesn't help that I taught her kids the trick of scaring him with a lemon." Teldy gave a giggle. "How are Dusty and Dr… ah… Perkins?"

"Porter, John, and they're good," she replied. "Porter's visiting family in Pennsylvania, and Dusty's taking a four week desert survival course in Fort Bliss. She's been there for almost three weeks now."

"So after years of constant combat and threat of death, her first instinct is to fight through one of the military's most difficult survival programs in one of the most difficult environments possible?" Sheppard asked in amazement.

"I know," Teldy said nodding. "Sometimes that woman scares me."

"She scares me all the time," Sheppard added and the pair chuckled before going back to silently searching for candidates. The silence was short, however, shattered by Woolsey's voice over the city intercom.

"Sheppard, Teldy, and Lorne, report to the jumper bay immediately!"


	2. Chapter 2

When Sheppard and the other team leaders arrived at the jumper bay, Woolsey was already there along with six well-armed marines, an unknown technician, and a pile of equipment.

"What's this all about?" Sheppard asked as the team leaders strapped on the provided tac-gear and weapons.

"New Athos is under attack from an unknown number of wraith. We'd only gotten a small amount of information before we lost communication. The colony wasn't able to tell us much and we have absolutely nothing on the team stationed there to set up our new Pegasus Alpha Site. The colony's defenses were holding, but ammunition is running low and the wounded are piling up. They need assistance and the nine of you are all I can send. You'll need to hold new Athos, while I pull support back to Atlantis. I'll be as quick as possible, but if I get resistance from the I.O.A. or military, help could be a long time coming."

"Dr. Beckett was working in New Athos," Major Teldy said. "Any word on him, Ronon, Teyla, Kannan, or the baby?"

"At last report Dr. Beckett was working with the wounded in the Athosian hospital and Kannan, Ronon, and Teyla were assisting with defense," Woolsey responded. "I have to assume they moved the baby somewhere safe like the hospital. After you reach New Athos, you will assist in any way possible until I can send more help. I've already had both jumpers stocked full of ammunition, weapons, explosives, medical supplies, food, and water. Col. Sheppard will fly one and Mr. Sharpe here will fly the other." He motioned to the unknown technician. "Col. Sheppard's jumper will remain as a resource while Mr. Sharpe will fly the second back and ferry other personnel to you as they come in."

"Any idea how long that will be?" Sheppard asked as he double checked the status of his G36K assault rifle. More a precaution than necessity; he trusted in the professionalism of his people.

"I don't know," Woolsey said shaking his head. "I've already issued the recall order but the best-case scenario is six or seven hours before we have any useful numbers."

"Great. Should be a picnic," said Sheppard growled as he walked onto the jumper.

"Good luck!" Woolsey called as the jumper door was shutting. Staring at the back of the jumper, Woolsey shook his head. Colonel Sheppard's dry sense of humor often made him smile, but today he had too much to worry about.

Sheppard took his place at the controls and opened the doors from the jumper bay to the gateroom, while Major Lorne dialed the gate. By the time the bay doors had opened completely, the gate's vortex had collapsed into its event horizon making the cool, blue watery surface they'd come to know so well.

The two men looked back at Teldy, who'd taken command of the six marines that accompanied them. She was already barking orders, assigning them in pairs to her, Sheppard, and Lorne. A wry smile passed between the two men before Sheppard engaged the cloak and punched its accelerator. In spite of how fun and laid-back she was off-the-clock, the Major's strictness and professional standards on the job built her a fearsome reputation.

The sensation of cold seeped into their bodies as they passed through the stargate's horizon. It's scintillating blue wormhole curved gently back and forth, up and down around celestial bodies as it cut a path through the universe. Their travel in that tunnel through space, where they could sense more than see stars and stellar objects flash by at unfathomable rates, seemed to take longer than normal. Time was more sensation than structure in a wormhole, and it was always impossible to estimate time's passage during stargate travel.

When they burst from the New Athos gate, it was night, and a light rain spattered the viewscreen. The walled township of New Athos lay directly ahead, less than 100 meters north of the gate. South of the gate were ruins of a prehistoric Alteran commune bursting through the thick foliage of a heavy, Nova Scotia-like forest. In a small clearing at the edge of the ruins were a few temporary Earth structures that formed the beginning of the Pegasus Alpha Site. East of the town lay a large and placid lake, but all other sides were surrounded by the remains of the once heavy forest.

Every tree within 100 feet of the town's log walls had been shattered, their ravaged trunks laying like scattered toothpicks. Small fires burned in random areas close to the New Athos wall, others still smoking from the wraith's vicious attack on the town. The town's dock at the lake had been blasted to pieces, their few fishing boats sticking out of the shallow water like wooden skeletons. Every log of the wall was deeply gouged, the obvious scars from previous explosions. Figures could be seen moving in the town and the tops of the walls, and debris had been piled as a barrier for the ruined New Athos gates.

"What happened here?" Major Lorne asked.

"Guess we have to land and ask someone," Sheppard answered.

He guided the jumper down to the town square, the most open and available real estate inside the walls for the small ships. Sheppard dropped the cloak and by the time the doors opened, Teyla was there waiting with a grin for her friends.

"John," she said, relief flooding her voice. "I'm pleased you're here, although I wish it had been under better circumstances. Major Lorne and Major Teldy…" she gave the two a shared nod of respect, "I'm pleased to see you both as well." She looked around the collection of gunners in confusion. "I do not mean to seem ungrateful, but is there no more of you?"

"We're all Woolsey could send at the moment," Sheppard said. "Atlantis was put on ice while the bureaucrats chased their tails trying to figure out what to do with it. But we should have more people here soon."

"What's going on?" Teldy asked.

"Two days ago, the gate activated and wraith started pouring out," Teyla said. "They started attacking the walls immediately and didn't stop coming until the gate shut itself off. Fortunately, we'd prepared for such eventualities and the gates were closed before they could enter. The first wave of drones that reached our walls detonated their self-destructs causing massive damage to our gates and dock. If it weren't for Ronin's insistence we build an earthen redoubt against the walls, our barriers would have given way instantly. After that they moved into the trees and, since then, have attacked at random times. Sometimes they use their stunners, and other times they self-destruct. We have many wounded but little ammunition, food, and water. I feared without your support we would not make it through the night."

"We brought everything you need, especially ammunition and medical supplies," Lorne said opening the lid on a crate of P90 magazines so she could see inside. It was packed with dozens of the transparent box-magazines. "I'll make sure it starts getting distributed."

"Thank you, Major Lorne. My people will be most grateful," Teyla said she gave him a tired but thankful smile, then turned to Sheppard. "John, I'll take you to Ronin on the walls. From his position, one can see much of the surrounding countryside."

"So, how did you get a message to Atlantis without a ZPM to power the gate?" Sheppard asked.

"That, John, is due to the brilliance of Rodney."

"MacKay?" he asked in surprise. "Which particular brilliance was that?"

"The MacKay/Carter Intergalactic Gate Bridge," Teyla answered. "Though the I.O.A.'s initial decision was to scrap the project, it was reinstated after Atlantis left Pegasus. Without it, there'd be no way for us or your people to contact Earth."

John marveled at the walls as he approached. He'd expected stone or wooden stairs leading up to a catwalk near the top like he'd seen in the medieval period movies. But the 'earthen redoubt' Teyla had mentioned was a gentle slope of ground that started 20 feet from the walls and ran 15 feet up the walls. The catwalk at the top of the walls was so close to the crest of the redoubt that only three steps were needed to reach it.

"I've never heard of wraith attacking like this," Major Teldy said as they marched up the earthen hill to the wall.

"Nor have we, Major," Teyla responded. "We've not seen a wraith commander or queen so far, only drones. We honestly have no idea of what to make of this."

Teyla led Sheppard, Teldy, and their teams to the northwest corner of their walls where a small but protected parapet was raised another 5 feet to give the user a greater view of the surrounding countryside. Atop it, Ronon stood looking west toward the forest.

"Sheppard," the massive Satedan said with his usual lack of enthusiasm, although he did wear a slight grin at the appearance of his old friend. "I thought you'd be on your couch watching your footballs."

"It's football, and so did I," he responded with a smirk. Then, Sheppard looked around at the devastated fringes of the forest. "What the hell happened here?"

"Wraith came in. Some blew up, we shot the rest." Ronin's skill at oversimplification was legendary.

"Great information, Chewie," the Colonel said, his voice thick with sarcasm. "Do you have any idea why they blew themselves up?"

"Nope."

"Has anyone investigated?"

"Couldn't spare anyone," the big satedan said. "Everyone was needed on the walls."

"We'll take one of the jumpers out there to scout the area…" Sheppard's sentence died in his throat as he caught sight of movement at the edge of the dark tree line. A lot of movement.

"Here they come again!" Ronon bellowed and raised his particle magnum pistol.

A hoard of wraith drones charged from the murk of the dense forest, howling madly as they raced toward New Athos through the rain. The defenders opened up, the sound of P90s, G36Ks, and Ronon's particle magnum shattering the stillness of the village.

Dozens of the monstrous creatures died in the first few seconds, but more reached the walls. Detonation after detonation shook the battlements as the wraith exploded against the defenses in a vain attempt to gain entry. Those attacking the walls failed, but the wraith that made the north and south gateways enjoyed better luck. Several managed to make the barricaded entries, their self-destruct explosions demolishing the hasty barriers.

"Lorne and Teldy, take your teams to the north gate!" Sheppard shouted as the howls of triumphant wraith cut through the din of gunfire. "Teyla, Ronon and I will take the south."

"Right, colonel," Lorne said and the six Atlantis personnel rushed into the night.

Sheppard and his team moved south through the village, panicked villagers rushing by for the protection of wooden or stone structures. When his team broke into the open plaza before the south gate, a chaotic horror met their eyes. Several wraith were inside the walls, some fighting and others feeding on helpless victims while more poured in the open gate. The few defenders remaining were wavering and about to break.

The team pulled their triggers, and a near constant spray of bullets and particle energy tore into the intruders. Many of the wraith died, screaming in pain and rage, but many more streamed forward. Sheppard pulled a pair small canisters from pouches on his vest, tossing one to Ronon. As one, the pair pulled the pins and threw the canisters just outside the gates. Less than two seconds later, the night was lit by twin sun-like flashes and matching explosive bangs. The Wraith, reeling from dual flashbangs, staggered as automatic weapons fire cut them to shreds. They fell by the dozen, the trio barely managing to hold the invaders at bay with the help of the remaining New Athos gate defenders. But the wraith just kept coming.

"We have to get the barriers back up!" Teyla shouted as she sent a burst of rounds into a pair of wraith that appeared at the front of the gate. "There." She nodded toward an old wagon. "We can upend that against the gate!"

"I got it!" Ronon growled. He swatted the largest of Sheppard's marines and the two broke for the wagon. Each big man pressed their bodies into the wagon, their feet slipping in the muddy road.

For long seconds, the big cart didn't move, both men throwing their all into breaking the heavy wagon free of the mud's grip. Finally, the wheels moved ever so slightly. Inch by painstaking inch, the cart squeaked its way toward the gate.

"Colonel Sheppard," Major Lorne's voice crackled from the radio. "We're getting overwhelmed… I don't know how much longer we can hold this gate!"

"You have to hold, Lorne," Sheppard shouted into his radio over the gunfire. "If you fail, we all die!" He fired another burst into the oncoming wraith before glancing at the wagon. The two men were moving it, but far too slowly for the major's liking.

"Marine!" Sheppard shouted. "Come on!" He realized he hadn't bothered to learn the Marines' names. If they survived this, he'd make a point to learn them all.

The four men, with Teyla and the villagers firing their weapons in support, gave everything they had to push that damned stubborn wagon. Finally, after a few seconds, they were moving at a jog and soon moved it into position at the entry. With a heave they tipped the giant wooden beast onto its side. Teyla gave the frustrated wraith outside the gates one last burst from her weapon before turning to the others.

"We must check on the other gate," she said tiredly.

Sheppard nodded and assigned his two men to help protect the south gate before they raced north. There were a few wraith in the city that managed to sneak in during the chaos, and each was dispatched quickly as they passed.

Major Lorne wasn't exaggerating when he'd said the north gate was about to fall. All but two Athosian defenders were down and all four Marines were empty husks, fed upon by the wraith. Major Lorne was backed against a nearby building, firing his weapon desperately, as wraith drones advanced on him. Each he cut down was replaced by another. Major Teldy must have been out of ammunition as she was using her G36K as a club, relying on her decades of self-defense training to barely keep one step ahead of the larger, stronger, and numerous wraith trying to catch her.

"Ronon!" Sheppard shouted and nodded toward Lorne. Sheppard advanced on Teldy's position, Teyla at his side, while the big Satedan moved to help Lorne. Sheppard fired a burst into an advancing pair of wraith and one went down. But as he reached to the pouches at his stomach for another clip, he found only empty pockets. He'd already burned all his ammunition.

The wraith drone advanced on him raising its palm toward the colonel. Sheppard glanced around and saw a downed Athosian defender ten feet behind him, his P90 still clutched in his hands. Desperation fueling his leap, Sheppard landed in the mud and slid to the fallen woman. He yanked the weapon free of her desiccated grasp and turned on the wraith just as it bent toward him.

A stream of bullets tore into its chest and the creature collapsed forward. It fell dead upon Col. Sheppard's chest and the man gave a groan under its massive weight. Using one hand to push at the dead weight and the other to continue to spray bullets into the thinning wraith hoard, the man wriggled and struggled in the slick mud.

Just as suddenly as it started, the onslaught of wraith ended. One moment the gates were thick with charging wraith drones, then, as though turning off a faucet, they were gone. Only wraith corpses were left, fallen into the mud and debris of the gate. Sheppard had wriggled his upper half free of the dead wraith and was sitting up, covered in mud and aiming his P90 at the now empty gate in fatigued disbelief.

"What the hell was that?" Sheppard growled.

"Just another day here," Ronon answered as he pulled the dead wraith off Sheppard's legs.

"No," Teyla said, her face drawn with fatigue. "This was the worst attack yet. Had you not been here, we'd have been overrun. Thank you, John." Her eyes moved to each of the Earth officers. "Thank you, all."

"Yeah," Colonel Sheppard said wiping thick mud from his face. "No problem. This is almost as good as watching the Stanford game with a beer."


	3. Chapter 3

The exhausted defenders of New Athos trudged along the walls wearily as Teyla, Lorne, and Teldy made their way through pouring rain to the center of town. The largest and most defensible building, New Athos Hall had been elected the shelter for villagers who couldn't help in the defenses. Its thick walls and small windows would make an excellent last line of defense should the wraith breach the perimeter.

In spite being almost dawn, heavy clouds and thick rain shrouded several wraith bodies that littered the ground before the hall with shadows. They were all congregated by the front door, some laying in the mud and others slumped against the partially open doors. The crying of children could be heard from inside.

"Torren!" Teyla screamed as she wrenched at the bodies to free the doorway.

"He's ok!" shouted a familiar Scottish voice from inside. "Those beasties didn't make it inside."

Despite Dr. Carson Beckett's soothing words, Teyla continued to rip the fallen wraith out of the way with the help of her friends. Seconds later, they were pushing the doors completely open, flickering torchlight inside illuminating frightened faces of children, elderly, and injured.

"Torren," said Teyla said in relief as a young girl approached with her son. A relieved smile crossed her face as she held her perfectly safe child.

"Don't worry, love," said Dr. Beckett. "No one will let anything happen to her. Especially her father."

Kanaan, one of the two defenders stationed in the hall to defend it, put down his P-90 and walked forward with a tired smile for his family.

"You know me," he said lowering his head to touch Teyla's. "I will not allow any harm to befall our child."

"I trust you. I just worried when I saw the doors open."

"They came in force," Halling said. He was the other defender tasked with the Hall's defense. He also carried a P-90. "When they heard the children cry, they started showing in greater numbers. We almost couldn't hold them."

"Colonel Sheppard," Mr. Woolsey's voice crackled from Sheppard's radio. "This is Atlantis base. How are you holding up?"

"As well as can be expected," he answered. A signal from Atlantis meant a gate connection and a gate connection hopefully meant reinforcements. "We just got hit pretty hard and I'm not sure we can handle another round. How's that support coming?"

"Unfortunately, the I.O.A. is dragging their feet," the man said. His voice was thick with frustration. "With the global economic downturn and the prevailing priorities being on reinforcing our fleet of F-304s, they're hesitant to commit any real resources to something they consider low value."

"Low value?" Sheppard growled. "The Athosians have been our longest and most loyal ally in Pegasus. We'd have lost both Atlantis and Earth without them."

"And I agree with you," Woolsey said. "But, unfortunately, my word doesn't carry as much weight with the I.O.A. as it once had. They refuse to give me the authorization to issue any orders to assist, but…" there was a slight tone of victory in his voice, "they said nothing about volunteers. Over the past hour I've had Mr. Sharpe picking up key individuals that I was able to get ahold of. They'll be stepping through the stargate momentarily."

"They'd better have Sharpe fly them," Sheppard responded. "There's a lot of wraith around."

"Mr. Sharpe is busy collecting more volunteers, Colonel Sheppard. You'll have to provide cover for them."

Sheppard signed off the radio and, along with Ronon, Teyla, Lorne, and Teldy, moved south. Forcing their way past the overturned wagon, they took up positions around the stargate. No sooner had they knelt in the mud, than the reinforcements started coming through. Glancing up, Colonel Sheppard was shocked at the first face he saw.

"Mitchell?" Sheppard asked. "I thought you'd be back home in Arkansas."

"Kansas, actually," Colonel Cameron Mitchell answered. "Teal'c and I were scouting a captain in Travis Airforce Base for the SGC when we got Woolsey's call."

True to his word, Teal'c followed close behind Col. Mitchell. In moments the rest of their support had passed through the gate and its horizon dissipated. Dr. Daniel Jackson, Vala Mal Doran, Dr. Rodney McKay, Sgt. Niharica 'Dusty' Mehra, and Captain Laura Cadman looked about pensively. Each was heavily armed.

"How bad is it?" Mitchell whispered.

"Bad," growled Sheppard. A small burst of Wraith stunners from the nearby woods accentuated his point and they hurried back inside the New Athos gates. Once inside, Sheppard brought the others up to date.

"You were quite fortunate to survive, Colonel Sheppard," Teal'c said, wearing a small smile of respect.

"Fortune had nothing to do with it," Ronon rumbled, a narrow stare and superior smile leveled at Teal'c.

"You are indeed superior warriors," Teal'c conceded with a nod. Ronon grinned broadly and the two giant warriors clasped hands. They spent a few minutes catching up.

Previously a 2nd Lt., Laura Cadman had received her promotion to captain serving with distinction aboard the George Hammond. She was second in command of the Marine troopers and headed her own team of expeditionary Marines. Although she had more responsibility and visibility on the Hammond, the woman spent more of her time sitting around waiting for something to happen. When Major Teldy contacted her about an open position on her team, Cadman jumped at the chance to get back into the action.

Daniel Jackson and Vala Mal Doran recently returned from their honeymoon, him working as an archaeologist focusing on Goa'uld, Jaffa, and Alteran histories and her swindling needed information or technology out of the less scrupulous people he was forced to deal with. When Mr. Woolsey's call for help had gone out, he'd already been studying Alteran histories on Atlantis and she'd been burning up his credit cards at San Diego's Fashion Valley mall in the Mission Valley community.

Dr. Jennifer Keller wasn't happy about Rodney going into such danger, but she understood his position and wished him well. When Mr. Sharpe landed the cloaked jumper in his sister's back yard, Sgt. Niharica 'Dusty' Mehra was already waiting in the back with a loaded M-249 SAW and several crates of ammunition. As much as Dusty enjoyed pushing her limits, training could only do so much. The battle for New Athos both gave her the chance to be a hero and push the ultimate limit.

They were in the process of deciding where to post each person when a shout came up from the wall. Cresting the barrier, they saw a single wraith commander waiving at the township.

"Looks like he wants to talk," Sheppard said.

"Uh-huh," Mitchell drawled. "Wonder if it's a trap?" The sarcasm in his voice was clear to almost everyone.

"Well of course it's a trap," griped McKay. "He probably wants to draw all of us out there so it's that much easier to kill our best…" He trailed off as he looked around at the faces staring at him and realization dawned on him. "Oh. I get it."

"How many of us should go?" Sheppard asked.

"Wait, wait," Vala said. "If we know it's a trap… why are we going out there? Shouldn't we just blow him up?"

"With what?" Mitchell asked. "It's not like we have artillery."

"What about your little ship-thing?" she asked, motioning to the jumper as though it should be obvious. "Doesn't it have weapons?"

"_Little_ ship?" Sheppard echoed indignantly.

"No, no, no, I have a better idea," McKay said and turned, snapping his fingers in one of his moments of epiphany, to Teyla. "You said they came through the gate, right? Not a ship?"

"Correct."

"Then there can't be that many left. We fly the jumper to the north gate and change its cloak into a shield," he said smugly. He smiled superiorly at everyone. "It'll easily handle wraith self-destructs. Then you just have to worry about the south gate."

"Isn't that a pretty complicated job, Rodney?" Cadman asked. "Wouldn't that normally take a couple hours or so?"

"A couple hours?" Sheppard growled. "Even if we go out there, we can't possibly stall for that long."

"Well, that's why you brought me," McKay said, his superior smile growing even smugger. "I have every confidence that I can have it up in far less time."

Sheppard nodded. "How much less?"

"I don't know… 30, 40 minutes," he said. It sounded like a question.

"30 or 40 minutes?" Sheppard growled. "How do you expect us to delay that wraith for 30 to 40 minutes? And what about the south gate, Rodney?"

"If you can get me the time I need, then there's no way they'll get through the north gate. And the south gate becomes one of those… what do you call it… choke points?"

"Choke point?" Sheppard echoed in surprise.

"That's the term, right?" McKay asked looking around at the surprised faces. "All Ronon's stories are about military stuff. I just picked some things up."

"He's got a point," Ronon said. "Two points. We can make that south gate into a killing field pretty easy. After that we grind down whatever's left until reinforcements arrive."

"Indeed," Teal'c said, his eyebrow raised in confidence. "Had they other options, they would not wish to converse."

Sheppard stared hard at McKay, then looked over the wall. The wraith commander still stood at the edge of the tree line, waiting with his arms crossed on the Athosian dignitary.

"All right," Sheppard said. "Ronon and I will go out and talk with him. The rest of you, set up a killing field in the south gate and do what you can to blockade the north. If this goes bad before we're ready, McKay will need all the time you can give him."

"I shall join you," Teyla said. "I should represent the Athosians."

"Better bring Jackson as well," Mitchell said. "He's a born diplomat."


	4. Chapter 4

"I was starting to wonder if you were willing to converse," hissed the wraith commander smugly. The weather didn't seem to bother the creature, its wicked smile unaffected by the rain streaming down its face. "I thought perhaps it was time to send the rest of my drones to wipe you from the planet."

"Doesn't really matter," Ronon growled, dropping a hand onto his weapon. "I enjoy killing wraith anywhere."

The wraith commander hissed and Daniel Jackson stepped in between, hands raised in placation.

"I think what our large friend means is that no doubt both sides are exhausted of the fighting. Good-faith negotiations will be far better for everyone than continued combat."

"I meant exactly…" Ronon's retort was cut short by a hard jab in the ribs by Teyla's elbow. The big man fell silent but continued to glower at the wraith.

"Perhaps I should have negotiated from the beginning," the wraith commander rumbled. "But I believed I'd be shot the moment I was seen. And if I'd told you that I need the blood of your child…"

"You will not have my child!" Teyla roared, raising her weapon to her shoulder.

"Now you've done it," Ronon said with a grin.

"Easy," Jackson said soothingly, placing a hand on the woman's arm. "This is just a negotiation, remember? Nobody's taking anything." The archaeologist turned to look hard at the wraith. "Isn't that so?"

"Of course," it hissed smoothly, bathing them all in the same kind of needle-toothed grin that a shark might share with a salmon. "I recognize my mistake in trying to force your hand. I hope you'll accept my most abject apologies."

"Certainly we will," Jackson said with slightly more sincerity than the wraith. "But we will have to know why Torren's blood so important to you."

"You are aware of the Hoffan drug that has plagued us for years?" it rumbled.

"The drug was designed to make feeding impossible for you, but ended up being toxic instead if I remember correctly," Jackson said.

"Quite correct. And while we were close to finding a cure a short time ago, your people destroyed the research lab and any chance we had to rid ourselves of this misery brought upon us by your people in the first place."

"People that you kidnaped," Sheppard pointed out. "You have a nasty habit of attacking before asking politely."

"Our impetuosity aside, we need a sample of the child's blood to ensure our survival," the wraith rumbled. "A small sample is all that will be required," it added at Teyla's dark glower.

"What you're asking will take time to consider," Jackson said as diplomatically as possible.

"I expected such," the wraith muttered. It looked to the east where torches on the village's walls cut dimly into the heavy rain and thick darkness. "I and my forces will wait in the forest until the sun falls below the horizon. Use your time well." The wraith commander turned and marched into the heavy woods.

"Huh," Sheppard said in circumspection. "I expected a little more gloating."

"And threats," added Ronon warily.

"He gave us an entire day," Jackson said skeptically. "I know I'm the new guy here, but it was my understanding that the wraith weren't normally that conciliatory."

"They're not," Ronon said. "It's up to something."

"It's buying time," Sheppard corrected. "Question is… for what?"


	5. Chapter 5

"We will not be giving them our child's blood," Kannan hissed, his face a deep red. "No matter how little they want."

"My husband is correct," Teyla agreed, her tone challenging anyone to defy her. "Torren's blood is off limits."

The group gathered on the roof of the village's meeting hall, its height affording them a superior view of the fields surrounding New Athos. Thanks to the sudden break in the rain, smoke from the fires of the battlefield hung thick in the air to irritating the lungs of the village and its defenders.

"Nobody is suggesting giving any of your child's blood to the Wraith," Mitchell said.

"And if they try to come and take it again, we'll shred the bastards," Sgt. 'Dusty' Mehra said, patting her M-249.

"No matter our decision, we have twelve hours to deliberate," Teal'C said.

"I'm not so sure we do," Dr. Beckett said. All eyes turned to him. Suddenly uncomfortable under the collection of heavy gazes locked on him, he swallowed hard before continuing. "I was the one captured by the wraith and forced to work on the cure to the Hoffan drug. I came very close to an actual cure even without a blood sample. The simple fact is that the blood of someone with the drug would be far more helpful than Torren's. It must be here after something else."

"It must be the planet," Rodney said, understanding dawning on his face. "Or, more to the point, something on the planet."

"The ruins," Mitchell said. "Bet you a batch of macaroons whatever it is, it's in those ruins."

"And once the wraith finds whatever it's looking for, we lose our leverage," said Lorne. "If it finds a weapon, losing our leverage might be the least of our problems."

"So we find whatever its looking for first," Sheppard said, then looked around. "How do we do that?"

"We use the jumper," McKay said, his eyes already glossed over. "Whatever it's looking for is likely ancient tech. I can configure the jumper's sensors to search the area."

"There were Earth technicians exploring the ruins," Teyla said. "If we're correct, they and my people that are acting as their guides are in considerable danger."

"That's assuming any of them are even still alive," Captain Cadman said. "I'm sorry Teyla, but wraith aren't known for holding captives for very long."

"No apologies are necessary, Laura," Teylay said with a polite nod at the woman. "You are quite correct. The chance of survival is slim and narrows even more with each passing moment. Therefore, speed is a necessity." She turned to McKay. "How long will it take you to scan the area?"

"If the wraith are localized at the Ancient ruins, we should know in a few minutes."

"Then please begin, Rodney," Teyla said. "The situation grows more dire with each passing moment. Kannan, could you please show Dr. Jackson to our village records? I'm afraid we haven't had much time to explore the ruins, but what little we have discovered is located there. I'd be grateful if you could search them for clues."

"I'd be happy to," Jackson said. Kannan led him and Vala out, followed quickly by Teal'c, Ronon, and McKay. The two huge warriors agreed to accompany Rodney at his insistence that the life of someone so important to their job needed to be protected in case of further wraith attack or assassination. Moments later, Dusty, Mitchell, Cadman, and Lorne left to oversee the defenses. Teyla and Sheppard were left alone on the roof. She stood silently, staring off at the ruins partially shrouded in the morning darkness and swirling smoke.

"How are you holding up?" he asked gently.

"I am fine, thank you John," she said, turning to give him a smile. A smile that couldn't quite hide the worry from a man that had grown to become a brother to her.

"We won't let them anywhere near your family," he said as reassuringly as he could.

"I have every confidence in you. In this."

Her comment took Sheppard by surprise. "We aren't going anywhere," he said walking over to stand next to her and stair, as well, at the distant ruins. "We're here to stay."

"Are you sure?" she asked, suddenly turning to face him. "When Ronon and I fought against the super-hive to save Earth, we did so knowing that the Wraith could attack our home at any moment. But we did so, we left Athos and Pegasus, to protect our friends and allies from Earth."

"And we appreciate it," Sheppard said, but she shook her head.

"I know you do, but we also assumed that Earth would fight just as hard to protect our people. But that has not been the case. As soon as Earth was safe we were offered the chance to return home, but nothing else."

Sheppard wanted to argue the point, but she wasn't wrong. While he'd been drinking beers and watching football, the Wraith had been ravaging the Pegasus galaxy. It was only sheer luck that New Athos had been spared as long as it had. He suddenly felt like an ass, a very small man for whining about missing a game when his friends were out here alone against the wraith.

"I'm sorry about that," he said quietly. "Truly sorry. But we're here now and we're not going anywhere."

"I believe that is your wish, but does your government feel the same? If your people hadn't been on New Athos, would your government have sent the help? One of our closest trading partners, the Opaca, were almost wiped out in a wraith attack five weeks ago. We sent an urgent call for help in defending our allies, but Earth never sent help." When Sheppard looked away helplessly, she looked back at the ruins and continued. "In the beginning, we joined to rid the galaxy of the Wraith. With the help of our Earth friends and the city of the Ancestors, we believed it was a dream we could achieve. But now our friends are absent and the city of the Ancestors has left the galaxy." Teyla paused, turning to look Sheppard in the eye. "Please do not misunderstand, John, I trust you and the others from Atlantis. And we are all grateful for your help. But with the Wraith awake in numbers never before known and, with little chance of help from Earth in the future, we all worry deeply."

"Its been too long, I won't argue that," Sheppard said, feeling even more guilty for his easy life over the past two months. "But we are here to stay. This is going to be our Alpha Site. It probably won't be us posted her specifically, but we'll have a significant presence here. And it sounds like Atlantis will be active soon. We'll be stepping on Wraith toes in no time."

Teyla smiled and pulled his head forward to touch their foreheads together in the traditional Athosian manner of greeting and respect.

"You are a good friend, John. I am honored to have you fighting by my side."

They turned to stare at the ruins for a few moments, standing in silence and wondering what kind of hell awaited them inside. They were distant enough that the forest around them concealed all but the spires from view, like three platinum needles erupting from a heavy emerald carpet. The sound of pounding feet and huffing breath pulled their attention behind them.

"Mitch…," McKay gasped, holding up a finger to stave off the questions while he tried to catch his breath. "Mitchell was right." He panted for several moments before continuing. "He was right. The puddle jumper's sensors found a significant wraith presence in the ruins. Whatever they're looking for is there. Or they think it's there."

"Ok," Sheppard said, grabbing his radio. "I guess it's time to introduce ourselves to the neighbors."


	6. Chapter 6

The rain had returned, come to add its misery to an already miserable situation. Carefully, 13 forms skulked through the torrent toward the Ancient ruins using massive trees and large mossy stones as cover. Sheppard and Mitchell watched the ruins through their monocles from two different positions.

"Southeast looks clear," Mitchell's whisper sounded from the radio. "Are you sure MacKay's doodad is working?"

Sheppard looked at MacKay.

"Of course, it's working," the scientist hissed in exasperation as he glanced at the life-signs detector once again. "They're there. A handful in the field and most in the ruins." The man almost looked hurt by the doubt in his ability.

"Are you sure you're reading that thing correctly?" Sheppard asked.

"Oh, of course, that's it," MacKay growled sarcastically. "I've decided now is the perfect time to forget how to read a simple display."

"Rodney says they're out there," Sheppard said into his radio. "Stay on your toes."

Team by team, they advanced. One group would move forward while the other two would cover. The advancing team would hunker down behind cover fifty feet ahead of the others and the next team would advance to their flank. The final team would again move fifty feet ahead of the first and the whole process would repeat.

Major Teldy's team was moving forward when one of her marines screamed. The distinctive sound of Wraith stun weapons filled the air.

"Down!" Mitchell shouted as he released a burst from his weapon. Several wraith drones fired upon the three teams, fortified in two places behind Ancient rubble. They caught Major Teldy's team in a crossfire and her second marine went down a few seconds later.

"Sheppard!" Mitchell said over the radio. "We have to get the pressure off Teldy. If you can take the left flank, the right should fall pretty quick. We'll keep their attention while you move."

"Right," Sheppard said. "Moving now."

Mitchell opened up with his MG36, sending a steady spray of lead at the left Wraith position. Vala and Jackson joined him, firing bursts from their P-90s at the left. Only Teal'C joined Teldy, Mehra, and Cadman in firing on the right position, though the impact from his staff weapon's discharge kept the wraith's attention far better than any of the human weapons.

Virtually ignored, Sheppard and his team circled around the left Wraith position. For several minutes, they snuck around the battle, four pairs of eyes locked on their massive quarry. But, when Major Teldy took a Wraith stunner to the face and went down, Sheppard growled.

"We have to move faster," he hissed, as Cadman was clipped by a wraith stunner. "Once Mehra falls, Mitchell won't be able to keep up enough pressure to hold the wraith back from them."

"Perhaps," Teyla responded. "But that only happens _if_ Sgt. Mehra falls."

"Yeah," Ronon agreed. "I don't like their chances."

As if on cue, Dusty rose like a specter from her cover and fired a burst at the right-side Wraith position. A drone's head rocked back and the creature fell dead to the ground.

"Maybe you're right," Sheppard conceded. Too late, however, as their increased speed caught the attention of the very Wraith they hoped to surprise. A volley of stun energy slammed into the trees and rubble around them.

"Oh, great," MacKay muttered. "They've seen us. Now what do we do?"

"Now, we're close enough for these," Sheppard said pulling a pair of grenades from his pocket. Tossing one to Ronon, he showed the large man how to hold the grenade with his thumb over its spoon. Both men pulled the pins and threw the explosives. Seconds later, a pair of thunderous explosions rocked the area. When the smoke cleared, Wraith corpses were draped over ancient rubble.

While Sheppard's team moved in to check on the dead wraith, the final Wraith position fired desperately at the three groups of targets. But incoming fire from three different directions steadily cut the wraith numbers down. Supported by an enraged Dusty, the other two teams surrounded and eradicated the remaining wraith in less than two minutes.

"Sgt. Mehra!" Sheppard called. "What's the status of your team?"

"Captain Cadman is coming around, but Staff Sgt. Collins, Gunnery Sgt. Lubbok, and Major Teldy are still out. No fatalities, however."

"Good. Rodney, are there any more wraith around?"

"Uh, no," he said, stepping around Vala and checking his scanner. He and Vala had been looking over the fallen wraith in their final position. "The scanner shows…" A blinking light out of the corner of his eye caught his attention. "Lookout!"

Vala's head whipped around in time to see his body flying at her. Rodney slammed into her, driving them both over a piece of collapsed wall.

Another explosion shook the area.

"What the hell was that?" shouted Mitchell.

"Wraith self-destruct," MacKay groaned, coughing from the smoke and dust kicked into the air. "I only barely noticed it." Only then did he realize he was laying on top of Vala. The woman was grinning up into his face. Her eyes only shifted away when Jackson rushed in.

"See that?" she asked Jackson. "That's how you treat a woman. You could stand to be a little more heroic."

The look of worry on Jackson's face quickly changed to exasperation as MacKay rolled off Vala.

"With you it's a full-time job," Jackson griped.

"Don't anyone worry about me," MacKay muttered, working a finger in his ear and yawning to get his ears to pop. "I'm fine."

"We are quite thankful that your heroic actions did not result in your injury, Rodney," Teyla said, giving him a placating smile. "But those actions won't matter if we are surprised by a wraith attack. The scanner?"

MacKay patted the pocket that usually held it before remembering he'd dropped in his charge to tackle Vala. The man groaned in frustration as he walked to where he'd dropped it. Pieces of it were scattered for dozens of yards in every direction.

"It would appear that we're going in blind," Teyla sighed.

"At least we know there are no more outside," MacKay said.

Sheppard motioned Sgt. Mehra and Col. Mitchell to join him. "All right, here's what we do. Mehra and Cadman will carry their comrades back to the village. Mitchell's team will join my team inside the standing ruins. With luck, we'll clean out the remaining wraith fairly quick."

"With luck is right," MacKay griped. "I didn't get an exact count, but there must be at least another 30 wraith inside. How are eight people supposed to clear out that many?"

"Rodney is correct," Teyla agreed. "If there are truly only 30 wraith remaining, then our remaining defenders could easily safeguard our village. It might be prudent to have the women remain and Major Lorne assist us while my people collect the injured."

Col. Sheppard nodded and spoke into his radio. Moments later Lorne joined them and a team of four volunteer villagers were carrying the unconscious back to the village on stretchers.

"What's the plan, Colonel?" Major Lorne asked.

"You and Cadman will join Colonel Mitchell's team, and Sgt. Mehra will join us. My team will take point and we'll clear these ruins room by room. Any questions?"

After a collective shake of heads, the two teams struck out toward the standing ruins. The ruins shared the coloring and architecture of Atlantis, though it was substantially smaller. Where Atlantis was meant to be a city, this place was obviously meant as an outpost. Likely fallen during the war, much of the outpost was rubble scarred from energy weapons. Pieces of decorative columns lay scattered around and several walls in varying states of collapse were visible. Even twisted remains of ancient catwalks could be seen. At the core of the ruins was the center tower of the standing ruins, if you could call them that. Though many of its walls were in better condition than the rest of the ruins, pants and trees grew out of jagged holes in its walls.

The two teams took position on either side of its door. Mitchell grabbed a groove in the door and pulled. It didn't budge.

"Try the panel," MacKay said, pointing at the lit panel at Mitchell's shoulder. The man waved a hand over the panel but, again, the door didn't budge.

"Any more bright ideas?" Mitchell growled.

"Give me a minute," MacKay sighed. Moments later, the panel's cover was off as MacKay bypassed the locking mechanism. Finishing by bridging two crystals with a third, the door hissed as it started to open.

"See?" MacKay said smugly. "If you just pay attention…"

He was cut off by a burst from Mitchell's MG36. A wraith that had been hiding just out of sight died the moment it popped into view.

"Yeah," Mitchell drawled. "If _you_ just pay attention."

Embarrassed, MacKay's mouth opened and closed several times. He glanced at the rest of his team for support, but was met with stern and exasperated glares.

Inside the standing ruins was a hall, ending in tons of collapsed rubble. An open doorway to the right, where the wraith had been hiding, opened to a room almost entirely choked with debris. Just before the hallway ended in a wreckage-blocked stairway upwards was a closed door to the left. According to the research team that had been studying this sight, it led to an ancient underground laboratory.

"This one's locked too," Col. Mitchell said testing the door.

"If the wraith took the control room, they're probably all locked," Rodney said as he moved to the door panel.

"I guess we're in for a long day," Sheppard said.

The door hissed open to a stairwell that led 100 feet down into an underground complex.

"You know, if I were going to set a trap…" Mitchell let the statement hang.

"Yeah, but I'm pretty sure it's the only way down," Sheppard said and waved Mitchell's team to take the lead.

Warmly lit metal stairs clanked under military boots as the groups slunk downwards into the Ancient laboratory. Moving as quickly and quietly as possible, the two teams rushed toward the relative safety of the stairway bottom. And directly into an ambush. Wraith stun energy filled the stairwell only twenty feet from the bottom, both Cadman and Dr. Jackson taking several direct blasts.

"We're caught in a choke point!" Ronon roared as he fired his particle magnum. It left a smoking hole in the side of a wraith. The creature fell dead into the stairwell.

"We must move forward!" Teal'C shouted as his staff released a volley of bursts. Two more Wraith fell dead.

"Push forward!" Sheppard growled as two more wraith bursts flashed into the hallway. Col. Mitchell groaned as one of the bursts clipped his head. Burning through ammunition to keep wraith heads down, the remaining shooters pushed forward. One of the three remaining wraith went down from weapons fire. The final two thought to shift the advantage into their favor with hand-to-hand combat. Ronon and Teal'C had other ideas. Ronon's Satedan sword first removed the hand of a wraith drone, followed quickly by its head. Teal'C caught the wrist of his attacking wraith and stabbed it in the throat with a Jaffa blade.

"Who's down?" Sheppard hissed as he motioned Ronon and Dusty to watch the two directions of the corridor they found themselves in. There were a handful of doors on each wall of both directions, with a closed door at the far end of the right corridor.

"Cpt. Cadman and Dr. Jackson are unconscious," Teal'C rumbled. "And Col. Mitchell is semi-conscious. I doubt he will continue to be an effective warrior."

"I'm jusht fine," Mitchell slurred. "Point me towardsh the bad guysh." His slurring bravado was tempered by the fact he couldn't stand on his own.

"No, my team will move on," Sheppard said. "You and your team will hold the stairway and protect your wounded."

Col. Mitchell tried to speak, but the wraith stunner to his head had started to affect his ability to speak. His words only came out as gibberish and drool. Instead, he motioned that Teal'C should join them. Sheppard opened his mouth to challenge the point, but Vala spoke first.

"Colonel Mitchell's right," Vala said, grinning as she slipped a new magazine into her weapon. "You'll need Muscles with you to take out the rest of the wraith. If any of them think to get at my Daniel by getting around you, I'll give them something else to think about."

Sheppard wasn't happy about the idea of leaving the wounded under the protection of one person who was half-unconscious and the other a civilian. But Vala was right. He needed every shooter he could get his hands on to kill the remaining wraith.

"So, which way do we go?" Dusty asked, looking in both directions.

"I might have an idea," MacKay said looking at a wall panel. Quickly removing the panel revealed a display and interface underneath. After a few seconds of punching information in, he turned back to the group. "Almost all the power is going to someplace called the _Synthesis Lab_. Its that way." He said pointing to the door at the end of the right hallway,

With a nod from Sheppard, the six moved out.

As they moved along, each side room was checked. Both on the left were empty, looking like labs that were left in the middle of whatever experiment they were working on a million years ago. The right door, however, led to more than just a small and barren supply room. It also contained a handful of desiccated corpses.

"I'd hoped for so much better," Teyla sighed as she checked one of the corpses. "His name was Genla and next week would have been his 20th birthday." She shook her head sadly.

"I'm sorry," Sheppard said as he and Rodney helped her sort through the dead. "But this was…" he stopped at the slightest of sounds that came from a wall locker.

His weapon up, Sheppard nodded for MacKay, the closest person to it, to open the locker door. The instant the door was open, there was a sudden flash of movement. A foot moved at an incredible speed, whipping out to crack MacKay in the face.

"Stop!" Sheppard commanded, causing the woman to halt her second kick just in time. For a moment she stood there, foot frozen in air and in shock, staring at the man with confusion and terror on her face.

"Oh, thank god!" the woman gasped as her terror befuddled mind finally sorted out who they were. "I thought I was going to die!" she looked at the desiccated corpses and her voice lowered so much she was almost inaudible. "I thought I'd end up like them."

"Don't worry," Teyla said soothingly. She wrapped an arm around the woman. "You're safe now, Dr. Baxter."

"You know her?" Sheppard asked. The woman was wearing the traditional Atlantis outfit, the flag on her arm denoting New Zealand.

"I do. Dr. Baxter was one of the first through the gate to explore the ruins. We were supposed to have tea this weekend."

"I didn't think I'd be alive to have that tea with you," Dr. Baxter said, a hitch in her voice.

"You ok, Rod?" Sheppard asked.

Rodney was sitting against the wall, a semi-dazed look on his face. He'd been fast enough to turn his nose away from the kick, but his cheek was already swelling badly.

"What the hell was that?" Rodney gasped, rubbing his cheek.

"That was why you stand out of the way when opening things for us," Sheppard said. "Now buck-up because we still have to find where the rest of the wraith are hiding."

"You're going after them?" Baxter gasped. "Everybody else is dead. Why don't we just leave?"

"We can't leave, we have other things to do." Baxter looked distinctly terrified at the idea, but Sheppard led her out of the room and pointed at Vala and Mitchell. "You'll be staying with them. They'll keep you safe until we return."

She nodded and, while she shuffled uncertainly toward her two new protectors, Cadman helped MacKay to his feet. "Nice technique, Rodney," she whispered to him with a grin. "Use your face to intercept the attack. I don't think that technique is taught very often."

"Why are you here again?" he muttered to the grinning woman. She led him to the door at the end of the corridor where he again worked his magic on its panel.

The door hissed open to a massive, two-story room. A monstrous machine sat at the room's center, humming as its glowing consoles gave a multitude of readouts in the Ancient language. They came out on the second floor, a mezzanine that circled around the central machine. Numerous small rooms were built into the surrounding walls, both top and bottom floor. Several had transparent walls, obviously meant from their furnishing to be offices or conference rooms.

"Split up," Sheppard whispered, motioning Dusty, McKay, and Cadman to join him. "Stay toward the walls and keep to cover."

Sheppard and his group moved left while Teyla, Ronon, and Teal'C moved right. Rodney's attention was on the monstrous machine when Dusty suddenly dove atop him. Several wraith blasts smacked into the wall where his head had been a moment before.

"Thanks," he gasped, looking back at Dusty.

"Less talking, more shooting," the woman growled as she sent a burst into the drone on the mezzanine before them.

The earsplitting cacophony of gunfire filled the room as the two groups opened up on the remaining wraith. Cadman sent several bursts into the drones, taking two out before falling. She took three stun blasts to her chest and dropped.

Teal'C and Ronon moved forward, their weapons scoring holes in both ancient furniture and wraith drones alike. Teal'C was moving forward, firing at a collection of drones on the bottom floor, when he noticed movement in a doorway he approached from the corner of his eye. A quick shift moved his body just far enough out of the way that the hand of the drone that had hoped to surprise him skipped off his shoulder. Teal'C twisted, the back end of his staff driving hard into the drone's body and propelling it forward. The wraith screamed as it flew off the mezzanine to crash into the ground floor.

Ronon was moving down the stairwell when a pair of wraith drones rushed at him from the sides ground floor. His particle magnum was ripped from his hands, but he whipped his sword from its sheath with his free hand. Grabbing the outreaching hand of one drone, his flashing blade severed that arm. The drone roared in pain as he tossed the arm at the other drone, it instinctively catching the flying limb. Ronon's sword hissed through the air, severing its head from its shoulders. A burst of P-90 fire from behind him put down the wraith with the missing arm before it could do anything else. Ronon nodded a thank you to Teyla as he retrieved his particle magnum.

"I don't suppose you have anymore of those grenades?" Rodney shouted as he watched the two large warriors defeat their ambushes on the opposite side of the mezzanine. He could see two doorways on their side of the mezzanine between them and the stairway down.

"Nope," Sheppard said as he sent a spray of bullets into a wraith trying to hide behind furniture on the bottom floor.

"We don't need any," Dusty roared as she moved forward. As expected, a wraith hiding in the doorway tried to ambush her without luck.

Dusty ducked low, its arms passing just above her head as she drove the butt of her squad assault weapon into its foot. It bent reflexively at the pain and the woman drove the barrel of her weapon into its descending face. The drone staggered back into the room with Dusty hot on its heels. The sound of weapons fire filled the room, followed quickly the sound of a body hitting the floor. Seconds later, a wraith staggered from the room with dozens of bullet holes in its body. Dusty stepped from the room even as the creature dropped dead to the mezzanine.

"Don't suppose you want to clear that room as well?" Sheppard called. Dusty grinned and rushed forward with Sheppard and MacKay right behind her. Sheppard entered the room with Dusty as MacKay covered the stairway. It took only seconds for the pair to kill the two wraith drones hoping to ambush them.

The two groups approached from opposing sides, catching the remaining wraith in a crossfire. The drones fought desperately against a withering crossfire but one after another fell, their bodies shredded by bullets or seared by Jaffa staff and particle magnum blasts. In minutes, only the wraith commander survived. All weapons were pointed at him, but he smiled wickedly.

"You will not fire," it growled. Its hand was hovering just above its self-destruct button. "Should I activate this, more than just us will fall victim." It flicked its eyes to an object in an alcove of the great machine they hadn't expected to see.

"It's a ZPM," Rodney gasped. "If he blows himself up, that ZPM will take out everything around us, including the village."

"Correct, human," the wraith commander hissed smugly. "I will be leaving through the gate and taking the power device with me. You will not attack, because your weapons cannot kill me before I activate my destruct and destroy this entire…"

A single shot rang out and the commander's head snapped back. It toppled lifeless to the floor, blood draining from a hole in its forehead. All eyes turned to Dusty, who stood and shifted the smoking M-249 in her arms.

"Hell of a shot," McKay gasped.

"Meh… not bad," she sighed. "Except I was aiming for its left eye."


	7. Chapter 7

"John!" MacKay shouted, catching sight of Sheppard's form disappearing around one of Atlantis's many corners. Sheppard and his entourage stopped as he, Ronon, and Teyla waited for Rodney to catch up.

"Good news," MacKay said. "Jeannie says she won't be able to make it to Queenstown, so it looks like she won't be embarrassing me again."

"Queenstown?" Ronon asked.

"The Gideon Research Convention is one of those scientist conventions where the nerds gather to try and figure out how to make the rest of us feel just a little more stupid," Sheppard replied. "They're gathering in Australia next month."

"No… I… Wow," MacKay said. "You literally got everything in that sentence wrong. It's the Gordon Research Conferences and Queenstown is in New Zealand, not Australia."

"I thought it was a state in Australia."

"Queens_land_ is their state. Queens_town_ is a town in New Zealand's South Island. It's a skiing town. I figured you would know that. You're a skier after all."

"Not in New Zealand, I'm not," Sheppard said.

"Oh. Well, either way Jeannie can't make it, so it'll just be me and Jennifer attending the Dark Matter and Theoretical High Energy Physics symposiums."

"Why would you wish to avoid your sister, Rodney?" Teyla asked.

"Because last year she embarrassed him by correcting him in the middle of one of his lectures," Sheppard answered for him with a chuckle.

"She didn't correct me, she just presented a more complete set of calculations," MacKay muttered.

"She sent me a link. You could see him melt down on stage. I could forward it to you, if you want."

"I was getting to it when she interrupted!" MacKay growled.

Teyla took pity on MacKay and decided to change the subject. "Have you had time to study the Ancient lab on New Athos, Rodney?"

"We're still going through the data, but it looks like a ZPM synthesizing lab."

"As in making more ZPMs?" Sheppard asked.

"Unfortunately, no," MacKay sighed. "Zelenka and that new woman, what's her name… Baxter, I think… are in the process of downloading and examining the data from the Ancient computer, but it looks like this lab was the final stage in a multitude of processes."

"So, no huge space weapons or super energy sources?" Sheppard asked somewhat deflated.

"No," Rodney sighed. "Our technicians haven't even found a fully powered ZPM so far. The one we found in the alcove was about half power. It'll open gates from New Athos to here for a few years before we have to worry about it running out. Still, the technical data should advance our understanding of subspace by decades. So, where are you guys off to?"

"The southeast tower balcony," Sheppard answered. "I'm meeting Mitchell there to hit some golf balls. You're all welcome to join."

"Golf," MacKay muttered. "I… uh… I'd better go and supervise Radek. I want to be sure he and whatshername interpret the data correctly." He dashed off toward the nearest stairwell.

"And I have to join my people on New Athos for a Renewal Ceremony," Teyla said politely. "It's a tradition after every wraith attack."

"Yeah," Ronon agreed. "And I was supposed to join her."

Teyla raised an eyebrow at the massive warrior, who gave her a pleading look. "Indeed," she said, turning back to Sheppard. "Ronon's generously agreed to assist in the rebuilding of our village as well."

"Sorry, buddy," Ronon said with a shrug.

Sheppard gave a shake of his head before returning to his trek through the Ancient city. He was rounding a corner, less than a hundred yards from one of the many transporters in Atlantis, when he slammed into another body.

"Pardon me, Colonel," Sgt. Dusty Mehra said. She was sweaty and her hair a touch stringy, several strands having escaped her ponytail due to an inadequate hair tie. The woman smiled up at him in her snug tank top and sweatpants that couldn't quite hide the magnificent curves of her hips and butt no matter how hard they tried.

"Uh… sorry, Dusty," he said, suddenly aware that he was staring. He pulled his gaze away and tried to look nonchalant. "Just back from the gym?"

"A couple hours of gymnastics, followed by a few hours of combatives, and finished with a three-mile run. You should try it some time. It's a hell of an end to your day."

Sheppard felt his eyebrows raising. "I could handle the run and combatives with you might be fun, but I'll pass on the gymnastics."

"Combatives with me might be fun, huh? I didn't think you liked combatives."

"Combatives are fine," he said with a shrug. "I just prefer beer and football."

"And golf from what I hear," Dusty said placing her hands on her hips.

"Very true. In fact, I was headed out to the southeast tower for some driving practice with some friends. You're welcome to come along."

"Golf… in this?" Dusty asked holding her hands out. Sheppard wasn't sure how much of his attention the woman intended to draw to her form, but she certainly got far more than he expected. "I'll tell you what. You come to combatives with me sometime and I'll try golfing with you. Deal?"

Sheppard shot her an easy grin. "I think I could manage that."

"Good," Dusty said, matching his grin before brushing past him. "I practice every day," she called over her shoulder. "Drop by sometime, and show me what you know."

_Damn!_ Sheppard thought as he watched her walk away. _She sure puts the woman in 2-B to shame._

He wasn't aware he was watching Dusty's rear until she stopped at a junction and looked back. She grinned at the sudden flush of his face from being caught looking. Then she was gone.

_Get ahold of yourself!_ Sheppard growled at himself. _You're acting like you're back in high school._

He allowed himself a minute to clear his head before turning back toward the transporter. Stepping inside, he stepped out again in the city's southeastern tower. Minutes later, he opened the balcony doors to a brilliantly sunny afternoon.

_Whack!_

The golf ball soared through the air to plop into the warm Pacific Ocean almost a thousand yards from the breakwater that was just south of Silver Strand Training Complex.

"Hell of a shot, Colonel," Lorne said.

"Is it just me, or does all this sound familiar?" Sheppard asked as he stepped onto the balcony. Teldy and Lorne both chuckled.

"Am I missing something?" Mitchell asked as he passed the driver to Teal'C.

"I believe we both are, Colonel Mitchell," Teal'C said taking the club and eyeing it with doubt.

"It's not important," Sheppard said with a grin. He noticed the skeptical look on Teal'C's face. "Trust me, Teal'C, you're going to love it. Golf's one of Earth's premier games."

The massive Jaffa took a bright orange golf ball from the bucket. He placed it on the tee, stood, and raised an eyebrow at the tiny orb.

"I fail to understand the point of this sport," he stated.

"It's the driving part of golf, Teal'C," Teldy said.

"I have driven many vehicles, Major Teldy," Teal'C countered. "None of them involved brightly colored dimpled balls." He'd done this before, when he and General Jack O'Neill were caught in a time loop. But that was different. Both he and O'Neill were so out of their minds with boredom and monotony that anything different seemed entertaining. This, however, was nothing but pointless.

"Really?" Lorne asked. "General O'Neill's a huge golf fan. I would have thought that someone on his team would have at least tried the sport."

"Never," Teal'C lied.

"Officially, at least."

Every head turned to see General O'Neill standing in the doorway with Robert Woolsey at his side. "But that was long, long ago in a time loop far, far away. A loop we'd both rather forget about."

Each member of the armed forces stood at attention but General O'Neill waived them back down. Taking the club from the warrior, he lined up with the ball Teal'C had placed on the tee.

"I hope you've all had a good rest because, as of tomorrow, the vacation's officially over." O'Neill drove his ball several hundred yards to have it splash down in the Pacific relatively close to where Mitchell's had landed. "At 0300 sharp, both the Atlantis Expedition and Stargate Command will be officially back in operation."

"So, both the Expedition and Stargate Command will be operating out of Atlantis?" Mitchell asked.

"No, only the Expedition will operate out of Atlantis. Stargate Command will operate out of the Alpha site. Personnel and supplies will be ferried there through Atlantis."

"Sounds like a logistical nightmare," Teldy said. Sheppard and Mitchell nodded in agreement.

"But a political coup," Robert Woolsey added. "By moving operations off-world, and offering several governments their own teams in Stargate Command, we've eased pressure from foreign governments, the I.O.A., and drastically cut costs from running a gate rented from the Russians. It will cause some logistical difficulties, but it's also the only way both gate programs can continue."

"What governments will be getting their own teams?" Lorne asked.

"The Russians already had their own team," O'Neill said as he offered the club to Woolsey. The man politely shook his head. The driver went to Lorne. "Since SG-4 was disbanded during your little vacation, it's being redesignated SG-4F under the command of our new French officer, Col. Franck Johnson. They'll be up and running by the time the SGC comes online. Our other national teams will be Canada, Australia, India, China, Japan, and Britain. Mexico and Germany will probably follow."

"Which means I will need the final list of your team on my desk in an hour," Woolsey said to Lorne. The man nodded, out down the driver, and made his goodbyes. "And, while you were off-world, I picked the remaining team leaders. I'll need the two of you to help acclimate the new team leaders. They'll be landing on the Northeast Pier within the hour." Sheppard and Teldy made their goodbyes before disappearing into the hallway.

"That just leaves me," Mitchell said.

"I wouldn't want you to feel left out," General O'Neill said. "Stargate Command's being given the majority of the North Pier and Tower until the transfer process is complete. Personnel and supplies have already started to arrive. I want you and your team to take charge of the SGC side of that process. You'll find Walter already waiting at the transporter for you."

"General, if you don't mind…" Colonel Mitchell started. "You know, I missed the game while we were out. I was hoping to find out how my alma mater did."

"The Jayhawks beat the Tigers 21-17." A pained look crossed Mitchell's face.

"Did your team lose, Colonel Mitchell?" Teal'C asked as the pair left the balcony.

"No, we won, but with a score like that, I wish I could have seen it."

Woolsey watched the balcony doors, waiting till they closed before he spoke. "There were rumors that you'd be transferring your office to Atlantis," he said.

"There was talk about moving my office here, but an important part of my job is advising the President," O'Neill replied as he collected the driver and a new golf ball. "It's hard to do that from ten thousand miles away. A branch of Homeworld Security will have a permanent office in both Atlantis and the Alpha Site. Stargate Command will also have an office here as well for logistical and communication purposes. The new liaisons should be arriving with their teams at any second."

"Then I suppose I should introduce myself and assign them some office space." Woolsey pressed the panel to open the door and stepped through, then stopped. "General O'Neill," he said, pressing the panel that held the door open. "I'm sure you understand that Teyla's people consider the ruins on New Athos sacred. They were the main reason her people settled on that planet in the first place. Teyla will have to be told about the I.O.A.'s decision over the New Athos gate and ruins."

"The I.O.A. wants this kept quiet," O'Neill said as he drove yet another golf ball into the Pacific. "Officially, there's nothing I can do."


End file.
